This invention relates to commercial refrigerator doors of the channel type disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,499,245; 3,629,972; 3,673,735; and 3,697,723. These doors are found on large commercial coolers or freezers which are commonly used in retail grocery or beverage stores to hold and display goods for selection by shoppers.
Commercial refrigerator or freezer doors of this type generally utilize glass panels mounted in metal frame members with appropriate sealing or gasket materials. The doors themselves are swingably secured to a refrigerator, freezer or cooler cabinet frame and have appropriate sealing members adapted for contacting and sealing against the frame when the door is closed.
Refrigerator doors of the type to which this invention pertains must have good insulating properties to prevent undue inleakage of heat through the door when the door is closed. Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a door frame construction which, though made of separate frame members, will maintain the separate frame members in a tight and rigid relationship wherein convective air inleakage is substantially eliminated.
A refrigerator door of the type to which this invention pertains has a glass panel mounted within the frame members to provide a large line of sight so that the customer can easily select merchandise by looking through the glass panel of the door before opening the door. Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a refrigerator door frame construction wherein the frame members, while providing as large a glass area as possible, are also rigidly and tightly held or secured to each other around the glass panel so that the glass panel is properly and securely held therein and so that convective air inleakage around the glass panel through the door is substantially reduced.
From the standpoint of manufacturing and/or maintenance and repair, it would also be desirable to provide a refrigerator door wherein the frame members could be connected together with a single screw in each corner of the door, which screw would be readily accessible to allow quick removal.
The type of door to which this invention pertains can include a torsion bar hinge system which biases the door to the normally closed position. It would be desirable to provide a means for maintaining the torsion pin hinge within the door frame assembly that does not require the use of many separate screws or other fastening devices.